DIPLOMATIC DITHERING between Britain and Ireland cost the life of a canoeist on Lough Swilly in February 1985. It was also a contributing factor in the death of musician Phil Coulter’s brother Brian near the same spot months earlier. Had the protocols in place now been in place then, both men could have been saved. … Continue reading State Papers 1985: Diplo […]

GARRET FITZGERALD warned he would not sign the Anglo Irish Agreement if Margaret Thatcher didn’t agree to a joint courts system. And he said that if she didn’t agree to judges from both sides of the border officiating in terrorism trials, he’d look like a ‘fool’ who had been ‘led up the garden path’. After … Continue reading State Papers 1985: FitzGerald tol […]

GARDA BOSSES are claimed to have criticised detectives weeks before a tribunal investigated their handling of the infamous Kerry Babies case investigation. In cabinet briefing notes from November 1984 and to be released by the National Archives on January 4 for the first time, the then Garda Commissioner is said to have described the actions … Continue readi […]

THE STATE supported the transfer of military cargo by both Singapore and the UAE over Irish airspace but stopped the Israelis doing the same. National Archive documents due to be released on January 4, 2016, detail the hoops the Israelis had to go through to get permission to fly military transporter planes over Ireland on … Continue reading State Papers 198 […]

SECRET DOCUMENTS have confirmed for the first time that the British spied on Irish Embassy officials during the negotiations leading up to the Hillsborough Agreement. Garret FitzGerald was sent a warning about intelligence bugging in March 1985, some two years before he denied his diplomats in London were being spied on. Documents released by the … Continue […]